Lawmakers seek delay in small games of chance deadline

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State Sens. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, and Richard Kasunic, D-Dunbar, have asked the Corbett administration to delay the reporting requirements of Pennsylvania’s new Small Games of Chance Act to give the Legislature more time to address concerns raised with the law.

In a letter to Gov. Tom Corbett, co-signed by 11 colleagues, Solobay and Kasunic urged Corbett to direct the Department of Revenue to postpone an administrative Feb. 1 deadline for organizations to file reports.

Solobay and Kasunic noted a number of unexpected issues have come up since the passage of Act 2. Organizations continue to have difficulty understanding what’s required of them under the new law, while facing a deadline of less than 50 days to meet the burdensome new reporting requirements.

“In light of this uncertainty, it is clear that a significant number of eligible organizations that utilize small games of chance to raise funds may be unprepared to meet the upcoming reporting deadline,” Solobay said. “While the law is silent relating to the deadlines by when those reports must be filed, the Department of Revenue has set Feb. 1, 2013, as the initial reporting date, and we feel this must be delayed.”

Solobay, Kasunic and numerous other members of the General Assembly have said the new regulations on small games of chance have placed inadvertent hardship on local organizations and need further revision. The legislators are pushing for the law to be fixed as soon as possible.

“These organizations are presided over by individuals who are simply volunteering their time to better their local communities,” Kasunic said. “The reporting requirements within Act 2 are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to concerns we all have heard, and this proposed deadline has placed a serious strain on these volunteers and their organizations, even to the point of shutting down.”

Solobay and Kasunic plan to introduce legislation in January to amend the Small Games of Chance law and address many of the problems they have heard about from organizations in their districts.